#70: Transformers Generations - Megatron

I have a few different Megatrons in my collection, but not one that I consider a definitive Megatron (maybe I'll end up buying a Masterpiece version if they do a re-release). So when a new, cool looking one came along, a sale convinced me to pick it up. And hey, the new deluxe Generations figures come with comic books, which is a pretty good deal since an average comic costs about 3 dollars these days. So anyway, this is a deluxe figure, which means it's a the shorter side for Megatron. Fortunately, it's a pretty cool robot. He's mostly a slightly sparkly dark grey, with pink/purplish bits throughout, which makes for a cool looking color scheme. He's got the traditional bucket head helmet, and the giant cannon on his arm. It's hard to mistake this robot for anyone else.

The altmode is a pretty cool looking stealth bomber. The wing tips disconnect and attach to each other to form the robot mode's arm cannon. Going from robot to bomber is a bit tricky, in part due to a couple unclear steps in the instructions, and partly due to the difficulty of aligning parts just so. It's not the most fun transformation scheme, but it is easy enough going back to robot mode.

"Lord Megatron, you seem to have shrunk in the wash! I can barely stand to see you like this!"

"All hail Starscream!"

#69: LEGO Marvel Super Heroes - Wolverine's Chopper Showdown (6866)

Wolverine's Chopper Showdown seems to be loosely inspired by the scene in his first solo movie where he takes down a helicopter while riding a motorcycle. Except in this scenario, Deadpool is piloting, and for some reason Magneto is there too. Included in the set is a helicopter, a motorcycle, and three minifigures: Wolverine, Deadpool, and Magneto.

The helicopter is color coordinated with its pilot, Deadpool. It has missile launchers on its wings, but they are the kind that are supposed to be flicked out with the finger, and end up not going very far. There are also swords on the ends of the wings. Because Deadpool, I guess? There's room for one in the cockpit, and an empty area in the back for more figures. Deadpool has a gun and a acabbard on his back which can hold two swords.

Magneto has two faces, an angry one and a serious one. He also includes a disk which I assume is meant to be a piece of metal that he levitates to allow himself to fly. It has been a while since I've read any X-Men comics, but I thought he was able to levitate himself without the aid of standing on a piece of metal.

Wolverine similarly has two faces. His claws are pieces that he holds in his hand, which works well enough, but does look a little funny. I think it would have been an improvement if they were pieces that clipped onto his wrists so that the claws could appear to be coming from the backs of his hands. He also includes a motorcycle, which isn't terribly interesting. Since this is a bareheaded Wolverine, his hood is shown hanging down on his back. He gets printing on the front and back of his chest, so I guess that makes him extra fancy.

I've been thinking about picking up this set for a while now, but never really felt like paying full price. Fortunately, last week Target had a sale, and this set was about 25% off.

#68: Transformers Masterpiece - Acid Storm

Alone with Masterpiece Soundwave, Hasbro released Acid Storm. It's kind of an odd choice. Sure, they've done the three main Seekers already, but this is the newer Masterpiece Seeker mold, so I'm surprised they didn't just go ahead and re-release Starscream already. That's got to be in the works. In any case, I like Seekers, and I like the color green. Starscream is too expensive on the secondary market, while although Acid Storm is sold out, he wasn't a big mover, so I was able to get a good deal for one online. Sure the box was a little beat up, but I got it for slightly cheaper than retail, so that is a win.

Acid Storm has the worst set of instructions I have ever seen with a Transformers toy. It only demonstrates how to go from robot to jet, and many of the steps are glossed over, or entirely obscure. It took me a few minutes to figure out what to do with the nose cone in robot mode, as well as a portion of the canopy which folds under, steps which are essentially missing in the instructions.

When I finally got to it from jet mode, the robot mode is pretty cool. I do think the head looks like it sits too high on the body, or maybe the shoulders just look too low. The chest panels flip up to reveal missiles, which is fun. The display base functions as a flight stand, which is always a feature I dig.

Jet mode is pretty cool, and I have no problems with it. I love the ridiculously bright green that most of the jet is, and the digital camo on the wings is pretty cool. Again, the display base can be used as a flight stand for the jet. There are also a couple of detachable missiles that can be attached to the wings or the display stand. There is a tiny pilot made of unpainted green plastic. There is also a little plastic half circle that I think is meant to hold Megatron's gun form (as is included with Masterpiece Soundwave).

#67: DC Universe Signauture Collection - Huntress

Club Infinite Earths is winding down after having failed to make the subscription levels to proceed for next year. Huntress is not the last Bat-family character that will be released before it's over, but she is one of the few women, and one of the figures I was looking forward to. I forgot how ridiculously expensive Matty shipping is for just one figure, which is kind of a bummer. Fortunately, Huntress turned out fairly well. It's something of a rarity to see a Mattel figure with so much new sculpting AND an accessory, which helps. They went with the version of her costume that sports randomly exposed flesh (thanks, Jim Lee), and I wish they had gone with the fully covered costume as seen in Birds of Prey. Fortunately I didn't have any QC issues, although the long hair restricts head movement almost entirely. Otherwise, the articulation is the standard for the line. It's a cool figure, although I wish I hadn't had to pay Matty prices for it.

I don't have an Oracle figure, and don't expect Mattel to release one

#66: Scooby Doo Mystery Micro-Figures - Velma

Blindpacked minifigures has become one of the interesting trends in toys lately, thanks to LEGO's ongoing line. They're a pretty inexpensive way to get a lot of characters, and add the thrill of surprise/frustration of figuring out what you'll get to the toy buying experience. Character Building, who already has a Doctor Who line of these is expanding into Scooby Doo. Friend of the blog James was trying to get both Daphne and Velma, but ended up with two Velmas, so I got the spare. Apparently only Velma and Daphne are in the blindpacked line, and if you want the rest of the Scooby gang, you have to buy the larger building sets. So that pretty much kills any likelihood that I'll be getting the whole group. As the brains of the operation, Velma is probably the most important character anyway.

"Meddling kids!"

#65: Star Wars The Black Series - Sandtrooper

I have to say, I'm pretty surprised that Hasbro went with the Sandtrooper rather than the more iconic Stormtrooper for its first wave. It's good that they're not using all the most iconic characters at first, as it allows them to be more spread out. Judging by how fast these figures seem to be moving from shelves, Hasbro should be able to make enough to get to all the important characters. Like Darth Maul, the Sandtrooper has double elbows and knees, although the armor pieces are a little more restrictive of movement. He's got three guns for accessories, the standard Imperial blaster pictured above, and two rifles as seen below. The backpack and shoulder pauldron can be removed, leaving you with a very dirty Stormtrooper (although not entirely accurate, as there are some small differences in the armor). My only real complaint about the Sandtrooper is about its dirtiness. The helmet is just a little too dirty, so it doesn't quite match the rest of the armor. Presumably this sort of thing varies from figure to figure, but finding multiples to compare might not be very likely.

One of his other guns, what I think of as the Sandtrooper rifle.

Through the years.

I don't have a Dewback, so here's Panthor. Also, the Sandtrooper's final rifle.

#64: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Ninjas in Training Leonardo and Donatello

The toyline for the previous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon had a four pack of the turtles as children in training. I missed out on that one, unfortunately. The latest has a similar release, but splits the boys into two releases. That is a little disappointing, but toys aren't getting cheaper, so at least they aren't single packed releases. Leo and Don are both downsized and have corresponding kiddie styled versions of their trademark weapons. With their downsizing comes a marked reduction in articulation as well. They only have swivel necks and hips, as well as swivel-hinge shoulders. Elbows or wrist swivels would have been a welcome addition for posing their weapons, but at least the shoulders aren't merely swivels. I haven't seen the other two pack yet, but Leo and Don maintain their distinctive shades of green, matching up with their teenaged counterparts. I remember seeing these figures announced a while back, but I completely forgot about them. It was a nice surprise randomly seeing them in the TMNT section, so now I am keeping an eye out for the set with Michelangelo and Raphael.

#63: LEGO Minifigures series 11 - Holiday Elf

After I bought the other figures from series 11, the next time I checked, the display was empty. It stayed that way for a while. When they finally restocked, I was looking for a couple to pick up for someone else, and while I was at it decided to pick up the Holiday Elf for myself. I've already got the Santa Claus from a previous series, so I figured it would go well with that. The elf has a couple accessories, a teddy bear, and a wrapped gift. The gift is a two by two brick with a flat cap that has a bow printed on it that goes on top. His ears are attached to his hat, which is a piece I haven't seen before.

Finding the elf by feel is pretty easy. He's the only minifigure that includes a two by two brick. Also, it's the only one with the unarticulated short legs. So if you feel for the legs, and they won't bend, you've found the holiday elf. Here's the bump code, with the batch number 218B3 stamped into the package.

#62: Batman Classic TV Series - The Joker

Before Heath Ledger, before Mark Hamill, before Jack Nicholson, there was Cesar Romero. Now we're three quarters of the way through the Batman '66 villain lineup, in action figure form. The Joker is appropriately garish in his brightly colored suit. Cesar Romero famously would not shave his mustache for the role, so the makeup artists merely painted over it. On such a small scaled figure, it's hard to tell whether that's actually sculpted in, but it res represented in paint with a faint grey shading above the upper lip. Otherwise, the Joker's face is a flat white that really washes out his face unless the light catches it at an angle to bring out shadows. A light wash would have been helpful here, but perhaps would have looked out of place with the otherwise generally flat colors of this line. The Joker includes no accessories. Oddly, he has one in a fist and the other in a pointing position. Maybe he's asking Batman to pull his finger?

The Joker's collector card is fortunately oriented the proper way for display purposes when plugged into the base. The Batcave scene on the back of the card matches up with the one on the back of the Penguin's card, although by passing on the two single carded Batman figures, it probably won't be the most impressive effect when all put together. The Joker's base says "Zap!!!" on it, which I suppose is thematically appropriate, as it could be a reference to a joy buzzer.

"Joke's on you, Batman! Pull my finger or my boys go to town on your spine!"

#61: Star Wars The Black Series - Darth Maul

At long last, the new six inch Star Wars figure have arrived. It's good to see any new Star Wars product, in fact. This has been a pretty slow year for Star Wars action figures, so it is extra exciting to see a new scale, especially when it feels like the 3.75 inch line is winding down. Until the new movies start, the new six inch scale is making things fun again.

My first six inch Star Wars figure ended up being Darth Maul, who is so far the only prequel figure. As under utilized as he was in Phantom Menace, he is very visually striking, and makes for a great looking action figure. He comes packaged wearing his robe, which is a soft rubbery material rather than the soft goods of the smaller scale figures. It certainly has a better appearance than the smaller soft goods versions, although it is a bit more restrictive of movement. One of the accessories is his set of macrobinoculars, which he used on Tatooine while hunting down the missing Queen.

Darth Maul also includes an alternate head, for the non robed look. The cool thing is that the robe and its head are actually attached to each other, so that it will sit properly. It's easy to remove and swap heads, and the unrobed version is my preferred look as it's more action oriented. My only real complaint about the figure is with this head, and it's the paint on the horns. The red goes too high on the horns, but otherwise the paint looks good. If you have multiples to choose from, that is probably the problem area to look out for. Maul's other accessory is his double bladed lightsaber, which has a peg that plugs into his belt. The blades are removable, which is fortunate, as it would look pretty goofy hanging off his belt with the blades activated.

And the handle splits into two.

"At last we will have revenge."

"Not again!"

If Darth Maul is any indication, I'm looking forward to more of the six inch Black Series figures. At 20 dollars, they are a bit pricy, but they are well made that it doesn't feel like a total rip off. I will certainly be more choosy about character selection. Darth Maul is definitely worth picking up if you're into Star Wars figures. And maybe even if you're not.